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September 2017 Savings, plus Other Updates

No idea where this month went – I had one weekend away (cocktails are never a good idea!) and that’s pretty much it. No progress on the kitchen so it’s still only half done, but at least I can cook now so the poor diet from previous months has improved. Hopefully, all will be completed by the end of this month.

So, how much of my net salary did I save this month?

I saved 37.5%. An improvement on last month but not by much. I think this is going to be as good as it gets, especially with the more ‘expensive months’ coming up.

My average for the year has now dropped to 45.4%. I’m not going to reach my target but I think I’ll be happy if I can keep it above 40%.

The above savings includes £200 matched betting profits, £7.50 from TopCashback*, £50 rent received and £93.57 affiliate income from OddsMonkey (thank you to all those who joined via my link – much appreciated!).

Markets were a little volatile, which caused my Future Fund to drop slightly in value, despite the extra capital added. It now stands at £124,961. Just a small step backwards but I’m still slowly plodding on towards my next big milestone!

Dividends and Other Income

Dividends received this month (which will be reinvested):

Another solid month of dividends, with the income received totalling £192.67.

Total dividend income this year now stands at £1,401.86, and looking at what’s going to come in next month, I should be hitting my goal with time to spare – nice! 🙂

Here’s how things look in the graph:

Matched Betting (MB)

As mentioned in previous updates, some of the accumulator (acca) offers which made me consistent profits previously are no longer available. This month, I took the plunge and dived into a load of ‘no lay’ accas. As these are hit and miss (ie no guarantee of profit), I also mixed in a few ‘lock-in guarantee’ accas to soften the blow for any run of losses of the no lays. At first, it was hard to take in the losses but I ended up having a lucky run and quite a few of my accas won. I’m still not 100% comfortable with them, since there will be some months where I may well be ‘unlucky’ but let’s say I am warming to them!

The good run on accas pushed my profits for this month up to £819.67, which means I have smashed my MB goal for the year – my total now stands at £4,320!I’m really chuffed about this because after the rubbish summer months, I wasn’t sure I was going to get even close to my goal. All my MB is from football and horse racing offers only.

The matched betting guide I subscribe to is OddsMonkey*. It’s a nifty little website for beginners and experienced matched bettors alike – for beginners, there are plenty of tutorials which provide you with step-by-step guides on how to make profits and to work through special offers. They also offer one-to-one sessions for those who need a little more help. OddsMonkey offers quality tools including the Each Way Matcher, Extra Place Matcher, Dutch Finder, Racing Matcher and Acca Matcher, plus they’ve just introduced Profit Tracker, a new tool to help you keep tabs of your winnings. There’s also a friendly forum for you to ask questions. Anyway, you can try it out for free*.

Goals Update

Here’s how things look:

One down, five to go!

I squeezed in a non-fiction book (which was also a library book!) so will do a little review at some point.

I should hit my charity goal very soon so will do an update on that too.

24 thoughts on “September 2017 Savings, plus Other Updates”

Although it looks like the 50% target is going to be a challenge, still hitting above 40% is a seriously good achievement! Hopefully with all of those savings on auto pilot it does make it a bit easier to keep true to the savings target!

The dividends are really starting to pile in now – that has to be a good feeling? So close to the target, that I honestly can’t see how you wont smash it, especially with another good round of December quarterly dividends!

I hope you celebrated smashing your first goal of the year with the superb Matched Betting results? All helps adding into the total pot!

September just flew by, I honestly don’t know what happened to it this month… hey ho!
Cheers,
FiL

Agree that 40% is good – I could set that as my annual goal but it won’t be as much of a challenge. The elusive 50% though, I’ve yet to achieve it so I think it’s worth going for!

You’re right, it is a great feeling seeing those dividends pile in – I really never expect them to grow so quickly. October’s going to be a good month too and then December will be a great one to round off the year.

Hi Weenie,
40% is good, but as you say better to keep striving for the 50% as it pushes you to try and save a little more rather than being in a comfort zone and easily achievable.
Yup – I find I hit the peaks each quarter now and it really does start to look nice as you see them coming flowing in – you wait until you look back at it this time next year and see how much further ahead you are 🙂
Haha I can just imagine – you will have to wait for the homebrew before you can celebrate with that 😉
Cheers,
FiL

Thanks, I hadn’t even realised that, as I think I overlooked that first tiny dividend payment (£3.80 from GSK!) As I said earlier, I really didn’t think they would grow so quickly – all I’ve done is just continue to regularly invest month on month, in not particularly large amounts and it’s all starting to make a difference.

Well done on keep under your daily spending rate goal – I know you were struggling to get your spending down, so congratulations!

For my lock-ins, I under lay certain legs (only by a small amount, eg 50p etc) where the odds are around 1.25 or less, ie the team are likely to win – this means if they win, the lay loss is a bit lower. For the free bet, rather than using the whole lot on one bet at odds >5, I stick it on a double, using odds of between 2.5 – 5.0. Lay this double like you would with an acca and you should get around 80-85% of the free bet, although watch out for shifting odds! Good luck!

Sorry to hear that! 🙁 I lost Coral ages ago and Bet365 a couple of months back. Wasn’t hammering either of them, just a few bets here and lost more often than not. Hope you can find value from other bookies.

I can only speak for the offers where I haven’t been gubbed, so my top three are PP, Lads and Hills. PP is where the big profits are, although also potentially the big losses for no lay accas if you hit a bad run! Good luck!

Haha, yes, I shall consider your offer for future work around the house haha!

A great savings rate – I doubt many will better you.
I came across FIRE by accident really but the logic is astoundingly simple.
My work colleagues are all qualified accountants and as far as I can tell , none of them are managing to save even 15% going into their forties. Given that our pension scheme isn’t great -5% contribution- it will be interesting to see what state they are in when they get into the next decade.
I’ ve had a look through your earlier posts and you’re certainly understating your wealth as you don’t seem to include your pension from your old job.

You’re correct, the value of my pension from my old job isn’t included in my net worth because I don’t know what its value is, as it’s a final salary pension. I would only get a valuation if I was considering transferring it (I’m not). However, this pension is included in my plans, I’ll be drawing on it from age 65, so my savings take this into account in my calculations.

Congratulations on achieving your matched betting goal for the year! I am way behind but still chugging along:) Fab amount of dividends too. It’s nice to see the chart comparing year on year, I am hoping to do a similar thing when mine get to a more significant amount coming in. It is amazing what can be achieved when you are consistently throwing money into it month on month – thinking about the long game versus short term pleasures. Well done!!!

Cheers Jamie.
As with many other things, matched betting isn’t a race, just keep at it at your own pace and the profits will roll in!
I’m really pleased with the dividends – in the early days, it was like nothing was happening but continuing to invest on a regular basis has made a big difference. Good luck with yours, the growth will come!

What’s your average yeild on your dividend portfolio. For a typical Canadian (I’m Canadian but live in Germany) 3-5 percent range for stocks and 6-8 percent for REITs. Anything higher and you run the risk of buying a dog.

Thanks and thanks for stopping by, RMiL! The matched betting isn’t go so well this month so far, one more weekend to recoup a big run of bad luck!
Also, the 40% savings rate will be struggle with expensive months coming up but I’ll be trying my best to keep the spending down.
Just nipped over to your blog, not had a chance to read properly but liking the ‘Money Music Monday’ 🙂

Massive congrats on hitting your first goal of the year…feels great to check one off doesn’t it? Looks like you’re really close to hitting 3 more, maybe bringing next month’s total goals achieved up to 4? Smashing 4 out of 6 goals with 2 months in hand would feel incredible

Reading your matched betting updates always makes me feel like I should get back into it because of the money there is to be made, but I was a “dabbler” in the past and found it quite time consuming because I get paranoid about making a mistake so end up triple checking everything before I click buy! My annual subscription to OddsMonkey expired in October and I decided not to auto renew until I know I can find time to dedicate to it again. Maybe next year…

Thanks OR! I’ve hit a couple more goals since this update, so yes, am feeling great and already thinking of what goals to set for next year!

If you see my latest update on MB, you’ll probably think that you’ve made the right decision not to pursue MB, haha! It’s not for everyone and there are of course different ways of making ‘side hustle’ money which some people will find easier to do. I will continue to work at it although am finding the no lay accas a little stressful so am looking forward to taking a break from them!

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Disclaimer

This blog documents and tracks my own personal savings, investments and goals, based on Excel spreadsheets which I cobbled together without any professional financial advice nor with any real financial expertise, bar what I've learnt from the internet and newspapers.
I therefore heartily recommend that people do NOT follow or copy any of my decisions on this blog and if they choose to do so without consulting a financial advisor, they do so at their own risk. I shall not be held responsible or liable should anyone choose to ignore the above recommendation.
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Happy saving and investing!